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The Assignment: Create a collage made entirely of paste-paper.

One of my favorite collage materials is paste paper -- any old kind of paper transformed into rich textured designs using a combination of paste + acrylic paint + objects (fingers, sticks, combs, etc.) that make marks through the paste.

This piece, Fantasy Forest, is made entirely of this hand-painted paper with a few ink touches thrown in.

Here I wanted to create something different than the usual city / country scape I gravitate toward and decided mythical creatures in a mythical forest would be fun.

In retrospect, I would not have chosen the brownish background, but was still pleased with the result.

Fairy Watcher

This is one of the first collage pieces I ever created -- a Fairy for my two sweet granddaughters who feared the wicked creatures that inhabit the dark.

It's not an original idea -- having gotten the step-by-step instructions from a children's art book titled appropriately enough, "How to Draw Fairies." (ANYBODY can make one!)

My daughter dubbed the work "Magic Fairy Watcher" and hung it above their bed and Hallelujah, it worked! They no longer claim to be afraid at night.

Materials used: acrylic, a piece of gauzy, glittery cloth, window screening, ink and a couple of found doo-dads.